


A Father's Choice

by Bilbosama



Series: Bilbo Attempts Whumptober2020 [5]
Category: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Video Game)
Genre: 'Pick who dies', Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Do not repost on another site, Gen, In the Hands of the Enemy, Magical Dueling, Missing Scene, Whumptober 2020, do not copy to another site, internal injuries, nnk1 magic probably doesn't work like that, no.2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bilbosama/pseuds/Bilbosama
Summary: Emperor Hogarth did not go quietly without a fightA Whumptober2020 entry. No.2 - In The Hands of the Enemy | "Pick Who Dies"
Series: Bilbo Attempts Whumptober2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952077
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	A Father's Choice

**Author's Note:**

> Earlier this month I attempted Day 2 for Whumptober2020 and it was determined that it wasn't whumpy enough. This is the official replacement which hopefully is much closer to whump levels. Maybe.
> 
> The original submission meanwhile is going to get expanded into a full length story eventually. Just not during October.
> 
> Prompt used: No.2 - In the hands of the enemy | "Pick who dies."
> 
> Warnings: Major character death, implied internal injuries caused by proximity of magical explosions, Hamelin arc spoilers
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. That goes to Level 5.

Despite being reported as outside of the city and last spotted as heading towards north to the Tombstone Trail according to the guards, the four intruders' presence still bothered Emperor Hogarth of Hamelin. It wasn't just that his sons were with them (and he knew Gascon has enough decent weapons training to deal with them quickly before a spell could be cast), it was the preposterous story they tried to feed him. They time traveled fifteen years in the past, all four of them? Really? Even the raggedy vagabond peasant accompanying the two children who has no decent amount of magical prowess to cast a spell, let alone Breach Time? And the fairy amongst them may be powerful but the older specimens of its kind tend to limit themselves in order to play a role. And not even the fairies can disobey the laws around powerful magic such as Breach Time so the fairy would not risk casting the spell only to be unable to return. Embarrassing a fairy like that tends to not end well for anyone.

It sounded like a story the peasant thief had coached his young apprentices to tell if they failed to escape before that strange fog cleared when it was clear that the capricious fairy wasn't going to help them.

Yet Hogarth couldn't help but notice that two of the so called time travelers share resemblances of his comrades. The girl was alleged proof that Rashaad finally settled down with the woman he had been courting. The boy…

Last he and Rashaad saw Alicia, it was a decade ago, when Gascon was five and the denial that he barely had any capacity of magic was beginning to wane. She had gone to confront the Dark Djinn after a year of research and no one saw or heard from her since. The boy may be proof that she still lives in some capacity.

Despite the boy's presence, Hogarth found himself hesitant to ask him about his mother. If Alicia really is his mother, that is.

As for the scruffy peasant who the children called Swaine, his presence was disquieting. Despite the man's attempts, his native Hameish accent started to slip out whenever he muttered imagined wrongs the Emperor had apparently done and his posture became straighter whenever he was in the same room as Hogarth.

His voice, despite deeper, and his face (which was already showing slight signs of recent recovery from a lack of access of food), sporting a familiar scar on his chin, was uncomfortably familiar.

The man's brief interaction with Gascon, when Hogarth had witnessed it, was tinged with an exasperated yet regretful air.

As much as much Hogarth loathed admitting it, it was like looking at an older version of his eldest son.

But if their story was true, and they had accidentally somehow time traveled to the past, then what had happened to Gascon for him to end up like that? What happened to Hamelin?

What will happen to his family?

The sound of shuffling footsteps accompanied by the concentrated tapping of wood brought Hogarth out of his thoughts. He turned to see who or what entered the throne room this time.

The Dark Djinn is here.

This very sentence chilled Hamelin's Emperor Hogarth to the bones. Shadar the Dark Djinn had been spotted a few times in Hamelin's capital before but never has he ever paid a visit to the palace.

"Ah..." hummed the Dark Djinn as he leaned on his cane, "Greetings, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Why are you here, Shadar?" asked Hogarth, hoping the old man was not after his sons. Marcassin's aptitude in magic would be enough to draw the Dark Djinn's attention but Gascon…

Gascon's interest in inventions and machinery would be a great asset to Hamelin. He would make a fine emperor in times of war. Eventually, he would turn his interest to Shadar and look into how to defeat him…

"Far too long, I have left a potential threat to my goals continue to remain unimpeded," replied Shadar, "I believe it's time to remedy that problem."

"Guards!" Hogarth shouted.

"I'm afraid they won't be able to provide assistance, Your Imperial Majesty," Shadar's tone was amused, "It will take another half hour before the sleep spell wears off. But it will be enough time for me to take care of one of the Great Sages."

The old man raised his cane and with it began to draw a rune. Hogarth immediately and quickly drew the rune for a fire ball to distract him. Shadar immediately teleported before the spell could hit him. The unfinished rune for Take Heart faded away.

"How astonishingly rude," chided Shadar behind Hogarth. The man quickly swerved around, drawing his scepter out of his robes but Shadar teleported again.

Hogarth quickly looked around. Oh gods, where did he go? Is he after-

Hogarth suddenly felt heat building under his feet and he leapt out of the way right before a pillar of fire erupted where he once stood.

Gods, Shadar really was after the Great Sages, wasn't he? Then…

"What did you do to Alicia?" he demanded. What happened ten years ago that caused her to abandon her quest? Is she still looking for an answer? Or did she fail and has been training her son to fight the Dark Djinn in her stead ever since?

"Defeat me and I'll tell you," taunted the Dark Djinn as he flung a spell for Hogarth to dodge once more. Hogarth put more power into Frostbite as he unleashed it. The spell hit Shadar's side and he stumbled without a sound.

(Elsewhere, Oliver cried out and his concentration faltered. His familiar scampered about the battlefield in hopes of avoiding injury while its master was too distracted to give orders.)

"Ah…so that's she has done," said Shadar cryptically to himself, "or _will have_ done. Alas it will be a long while before her successor is ready." He then peered at the Emperor as if in thought.

"But you…" he concludes, "You have heirs right now."

"And you will stay away from them," Hogarth growls as he quickly draws Arrow of Light.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Your Imperial Majesty," Shadar mockingly apologized as he teleports once more out of Arrow of Light's path.

"As long as hope exists in this world, there will always be despair," came Shadar's disembodied voice, "but people tend to learn a lot from their own despair."

A pillar of fire burst under Hogarth's feet and he barely escaped in time. Parts of his legs screamed as the burns made themselves known. And gods, his hands are a deep red.

Despite the pain of holding his scepter, Hogarth managed to cast a healing spell. Odd, the Dark Djinn did nothing to take advantage of his distraction. He quickly looked around and then found out why.

A large ball of darkness was forming above the old sorcerer. The spell's aura spread out to fill the room.

The force powering the spell was enormous and it would cause major damage to the palace once fully released. There would be no escape from it. The best he could do now was mildly inconvenience his opponent.

Well then.

Hogarth put more power into Arrow of Light and hoped for the best as he released it.

This resulted in the following:

The first thing that happened was that it collided with the dark magic Shadar was feeding power into. An explosion caused by the meeting of two opposite forces immediately ensued.

Both combatants were blasted away from each other by the force of that explosion. Hogarth laid on the floor where he landed, dazed.

Unfortunately, Shadar managed to escape just in time. He peered down at the semi-conscious Emperor. His matted red hair blocked off the view to his face.

"I will give you a choice to make," decided the Dark Djinn, the fingers of his free hand experiencing spasms. So he did not fully escape that backlash unscathed, "which of your sons shall face your despair?"

"Please…" gasped Hogarth as his wounds from battle ached, "no…"

"Shall be your eldest? One who has very little magical power to even cast anything born into a royal family that boasted about prodigious magical talent for centuries?"

The gaunt visage of the man named Swaine filled his mental vision. What happened in the next fifteen years for his son to experience disgrace like that? Was it banishment? The nobility were well aware that his son's inventions were for the benefit of the empire. With him gone, Hamelin would stagnant. The nobility wouldn't be that foolish. Regardless of his inability to cast magic, he was still royalty and could name his little brother as his heir.

"Not Gascon," begged Hogarth. Gods, why is it getting harder to breathe?

"Then your youngest?"

"He's…he's only eight for gods' sake," gasped Hogarth. A child!

"Take…take me," he offered. "Spare my sons." Gascon, despite everything, was still trained to one day take the throne. As long as he remained in Hamelin, emperor or not, he would not suffer. As long as Hogarth willed it beyond death, Gascon will never become Swaine. Marcassin, despite having more time to prepare to one day take the throne from his brother, was too gentle to turn to vengeance against Shadar. Any devastating loss would only teach him to keep his head down.

His father only wished to minimize his sons' pain.

"And why should I do that?" asked Shadar as he continued to trace unfamiliar shapes that…that…they're spells. "I have done what I wanted."

"Then isn't it enough?" pleaded Hogarth?

Shadar tilted his head, as if thinking.

"As long as they stay within the empire…they can't harm you," offered Hogarth.

"Nothing can harm me," boasted Shadar, "I've made sure of it. However…"

Shouts erupted outside of the throne room. The guards have woken up and recognized that they were put to sleep to reduce intervention. It was too late for them now.

"I suppose we have a deal, Your Imperial Majesty. As long neither of them leaves, both shall remain unharmed. As for you…" A bolt of electricity escaped from the Dark Djinn's fingers and Hogarth unwillingly cried out as it entered his chest.

"You have enough time to make your farewells. I have given you that much." The Dark Djinn glowed blue as the travel spell activated. He then vanished from sight and Hogarth fully could not sense his presence anymore.

Then again, he was losing everything else as well. He…he never felt this tired before. And the pain and the discomfort in his torso was constant. But at the same time, Hogarth was unconcerned about that.

It was too late to help him now. The damage from the duel and resulting explosion was too great.

The doors burst open and he faintly heard multiple shouts. He felt arms prop him up and detected green light floating around him. Ah, someone was attempting to heal him. It's too late for that now but he appreciated the burst of energy granted to him.

"Please, hold on!" cried out Alicia's boy.

"What happened?" demanded the older Gascon.

"S…shadar," Hogarth managed, "he demanded unconditional…surrender…"

Someone gasped and Hogarth pressed on, "But let it be known…that I defied him. I would not bow to that wretch."

His breath caught in his throat and Hogarth coughed weakly.

"No, don't," said the elder Gascon, his voice sounding younger than it should for his age, "don't try to speak."

Parental instinct kicked in and Hogarth turned to his eldest, "Gascon…My son…"

"I…" Gascon attempted to refute.

"Did…you really…think I couldn't tell?"

"You knew?"

"Your appearance changed…but a father knows his own flesh and blood…"

"I…" Gascon tried. Alicia's boy attempted to heal Hogarth again; his eyes alight with horror and denial. His ministrations only bought everyone more a little more time.

"The future is a mystery to all men," said Hogarth as he hoped to stay awake as long as he could, "But I know…you and Marcassin can…"

He coughed once more and he sensed that the end was coming. He leaned back in his son's arms, too tired to hold himself up.

"Protect the empire…and the future…I know you can…"

He closed his eyes as his vision completely faded. He did all he could to protect his sons and the empire. If only…no…it was too late to wonder about what could have been…

Emperor Hogarth of the mighty Hamelin Empire breathed his last and knew no more.

**Author's Note:**

> This took me a few days to finish because Emperor Dad refused to let the plot move. And thus that is why the beginning has that 'ah yes, Kuzco's poison' vibe.
> 
> We don't actually know how many years ago Alicia last confronted Shadar but she, Rashaad, and Hogarth were apparently contemporaries and allies. And if Hogarth noticed the resemblance, then it stands to reason Rashaad did too but was likely hesitant to ask Oliver about his mother because why is this baby wizard showing up now?
> 
> Speaking of Hogarth, I thought the name would fit the general pig theme Hamelin has going. I would've gone with Boreas but the original namesake was the Greek god of the north wind and Hamelin is more westerly. Hogarth meanwhile only yields results related to William Hogarth, a English engraver. And apparently, an obscure dialect word for 'lamb enclosure' according to one website. I spent too much time on this fic so screw it, Hogarth it is.
> 
> Gascon is 15 in the past because his canon behavior and attitude felt like what a rebellious young teen would do and say. This leads to his present day age as 30.
> 
> Additionally, with Marcassin being 8, he would be 23 in the present day. I'm aware that there's a tumblr post that went around revealing that Marcassin was five when his father died and his brother ran away (and thus 20 in the present) but that kinda repeats Cassiopeia's backstory and that was from a fan translation of the DS game. Last I heard, the DS and the PS3 versions of Ni No Kuni are alternate realities to each other so anything goes with the PS3 timeline. *shrugs* I dunno I just wanted to write a fic.


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